Tuesday, February 18, 2014

By John CheeranThe captaincy question returns. It is time to lessen the burden of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Stepping down as captain would serve both Dhoni’s and Team India’s interests. He has had the longest run as India’s skipper in Tests – 53 matches.New Zealand tour, simply put, has been a disaster. Dhoni’s men lost the five-match one-day series 0-4 and the Test series 0-1. It would have been catastrophic had India attempted to go for the victory target of 435 runs in Basin Reserve, Wellington, befitting the ‘super king’ status they claim. Indian openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan tried but Virat Kohli had other plans when he cracked a plucky century to keep the Kiwis at bay.As captain Dhoni has been successful in the past. He inspired an average bunch of cricketers to win the World Cup in 2011. But since then it has been a downhill journey for the side as much as for Kapil’s Devils who, after stunning the cricket world in 1983, had a string of Test defeats against the West Indies and England.As Test captain Dhoni has an abysmal record abroad. Since 2011 India has lost Test series in England (0-4), Australia (0-4), South Africa (0-1) and New Zealand (0-1). In the last three years India has not won a single Test abroad, out of the 14 it has played.There can be arguments that clearly England, Australia and South Africa were far superior sides compared to India when Dhoni locked horns with them. But should world champions tremble in fear in New Zealand? Not a single Indian supporter would have thought the series would be so lop-sided.At some stage, senior players should take responsibility. It is such a time for Dhoni. Dhoni knows he is on the back foot now and clearly, he has stopped blaming anyone, especially bowlers, for the disastrous consequences in Auckland and Wellington. Who is to be blamed for letting a side escape from 94/5 while staring at innings defeat and turn the tables on you? Dhoni the captain has been clearly too defensive in his approach in Tests.Read the full story

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About Me

John Cheeran is an engineer-turned-journalist and has worked in such diverse media as Print, Internet and Radio. Cheeran has an abiding interest in cricket and its politics, and in politics in general.
Cheeran quit an Indian arm of the US-based global giants General Electric in 1994 to join Asian College of Journalism. He then went on to write on sports, and mainly on cricket, for newspapers such as The Indian Express, The Asian Age, The Pioneer and www.timesofindia.com in India. Cheeran also had a seven-year stint with Gulf News in Dubai.
He also wrote regularly for regional publications including Malayala Manorama and Deshabhimani during his student days.
During his career, Cheeran has reported a string of national and international tournaments including the 1999 Cricket World Cup held in England, the annual Dubai Desert Classic Golf Championship and Dubai Tennis Championship in Dubai, the ICC Champions Trophy in Dhaka, the Independence Cup Cricket Championship in India, Asian Test Championship and a number of Davis Cup ties in India. Now, Cheeran is an adjunct faculty at Online Media Centre in Chennai.